Roberta Cowell
Roberta Cowell (born 1921 in Croydon) was the first known British male-to-female transsexual to undergo sex reassignment surgery.[1]
Born Robert Cowell, she was a Spitfire pilot in World War II and a racing driver after the war. She had a vaginoplasty in 1951, via a surgical method invented and performed by Dr Harold Gillies. This occurred two years before Christine Jorgensen's surgery in Denmark. Roberta Cowell's surgical transformation and friendship with the female-to-male transsexual Michael Dillon, also operated on by Dr Harold Gillies, is documented in the book "The First Man-Made Man" by Pagan Kennedy [1]. Roberta's life is described in her biography, Roberta Cowell's Story.[2]
In 2010, Croydon Trans Group held a celebration of Roberta Cowell's life as part of LGBT History Month.[3]
References
- ↑ Roberta Cowell, the First British Transsexual, Transgender Zone Media Archives. http://www.transgenderzone.com/features/roberta_cowell.htm
- ↑ Roberta Cowell's Story by Roberta Cowell, Heinemann, 1954
- ↑ http://www.croydontrans.org.uk/roberta.htm
